Game of Death

Obviously, this movie should not be confused with the Bruce Lee movie of the same name. The only thing they have in common is the use of martial arts. Anyway, I didn't find this movie as bad as some of the user comments here. Although it was released direct-to-DVD, the production values are mostly strong; this movie could have been released to theaters. Shooting in Detroit also gave the movie a unique backdrop. But I was disappointed in the end. Although the action scenes do show that Snipes indeed knows his martial arts, they were directed and choreographed in a way that drains most of the excitement out them. Also a bad directorial touch was the use of black and white, which comes out of nowhere and seems out of place. The resolution of the climax will most likely leave viewers unsatisfied with how things are wrapped up. But long before that, the movie's mean streak will have turned off viewers (a TON of innocent people get killed during the movie!) Still, Snipes fans may be forgiving of a lot of these flaws, since this will probably be one of the last Snipes movies they'll get to see for a long time, with Snipes now in prison.

With a title like this, what can one expect? A bunch of clichés, seen it all befores, etc. No disappointment here scenario-wise. But what about Wesley Snipes?

Well, I have learned that Wesley Snipes has no emotions. His face is a neatly ironed blanket. It seems like he is sedated throughout the movie. I'm guessing the evil tax man took, besides all of his money, also the possibility of expressing emotions. He is not what you call stone cold - he is dead cold. Or possibly a sleep walker?

And Zoe Belle, the female "bad guy"? Hell, she's funny. Really funny. She tries to put on super scary serious I'm-tougher-than-tough face, but it comes out ridiculous. I honestly laughed a couple of times at her face. I'm thinking she was trying to be sort of a Clint Eastwood with that look, but it simply didn't play out.

But poor acting is not the worst thing here. Absolutely horrible, irritating soundtrack which instead of suspense brings only annoyance and repetitive need to use the mute button on my remote. Also, the camera work is below par and the ghosting effects are completely unnecessary, ugly and debilitating to the picture.

I have given this a very, very generous 3 out of 10.

I was totally stoked about this movie after seeing the preview (by the way I can't stand the "cool" industry insiders who insist on calling movie previews "trailers" just to prove that they are cool movie insiders. Do they appear before or after the feature film??? DUH!!!).

Anyway, this movie turned out to be cheesy and formulaic. The preview made Snipes' character seem totally invincible with far superior karate fighting skills (which would have been awesome and something I long for).

After watching the Special Features - which were not very good at all - I realized what the problem was. The Director was thrown into this project right before they started shooting with little preparation (and possible experience in this genre) and has a working style of 'just getting it done'. He did just get it done - with very unremarkable results.

I don't blame Snipes at all - his performance was very good with what he had to work with. He seemed to just go along with this schlock, just as he went along with the con artists (one was actually named Kahn) who led him into an illegal tax scheme to defraud the federal government that landed him in jail.

I also see how movie Previews are made by independent production houses and can be very misleading about the actual quality of a film. In this case they made a very good one. Maybe they should have produced the entire film!

Oh, one more thing. 100 millions dollars (in 100's) can be carried in just 2 modest-sized duffel bags? Wow! How dumb do they think we are?

but i have to give the credit to the stunt and action scenes, including the fantastic defensive driving scenes that actually were nicely done. but the whole movie simply proceeded in an ridiculous way that i have to blame to the poor logic thinking of the director. how could it possible a hand gun kept firing over 30 or 40 times and didn't have to reload? how could it possible a so-called CIA female agent wore two big round earrings during a dangerous mission? besides, she acted so poorly to look like a convincing agent. snipes acted well and his fighting techs still looked so smooth and flawless. but this screenplay simply was just stupid, ridiculous and highly impossible even good fighting scenes would not salvage this poor crafted movie.

Even in this horrible movie you show that you got talent. Why do you lower yourself to work with people that seems to know nothing about making exciting movies? The editing is horrible and there is not real feeling in the action scenes either. guns that sound "pjuff pjuff" along with horrible editing is not a good way to go.

This one had an exciting idea of making an exciting movie but its all just washed away during the course of the movie.

The end fight is worth looking at though so for all that hasn't seen it fast forward to that one for some good old Wesley Snipes action! Otherwise its not much to look at here.

But again, this is not due to Snipes 'cause he seems to be doing the best he can making it exciting but with bad editing and directing overall - noting can save this movies face.